Chapter 6, Chapter 6, New News from the Oracle
"Of course it's to satisfy your perverted desire for expansion!"
"If you say that, I will be very sad."
Hilde held her chin and smiled at the archon in front of her. The archon looked young, but he was very stubborn when he spoke. Such straightforward people often made it easy for Hilde to get the relevant information she wanted from them, so Hilde said, "You, the Peloponnesian League, are so uninformed that you don't even know that the Byzantine Kingdom has joined the Delian League. Now I can tell you that the reason I attacked Cestus is because I want to support Eraeus, and our help has arrived."
"...The Delian League? You actually joined the Delian League! Are you crazy? The Athenians will definitely try to manipulate your politics! They will also try to overthrow your kingship! And they will continuously plunder your money and make you eat it all!"
Hear the Archon say this.
Hilde couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Hahahahaha... you're right. The Athenians did want to do this. But as the archon of Cestus, you should be very clear about the national strength of the Byzantine Kingdom. We are not weaklings who will be oppressed by the Athenians at will. If my family wants to do this, they have to consider themselves first. Our population alone is four times that of Athens, and our military strength is even greater than that of Athens. We joined the Delian League because we are taking care of Athens for the benefit of our country. And Athens, dares to tell me what to do?"
"..."
Hearing what Hilde said, the archon felt like he had been fooled.
But he thought about it carefully, what Hilde said was not wrong. According to the current national strength of the Byzantine Kingdom, the Athenians really had no right to make decisions, because Hilde could easily deal with them. So he didn't know why the Byzantine Kingdom wanted to join the Delian League, maybe it was just for money.
"Anyway, I want to know something from you."
"What do you want to know?"
"If you tell the truth, the lives of all the people in Cestus will be guaranteed, and starting today, Cestus will be officially incorporated into the rule of the Byzantine Kingdom. You city-states close to the Byzantine Kingdom should be aware of the Byzantine Kingdom's political system. If you behave well, the Byzantine Kingdom will grant all citizens of Cestus the status of citizens of the kingdom. Otherwise, we are still in great need of slaves."
The Archon heard this.
He knew it was a threat from Hilde.
But what can he do about the threat? He had no choice but to cooperate and submit to the power of the Byzantine Empire. Otherwise, more than 10,000 people of Cestus would be reduced to slaves because of his stupidity, and the consul would never allow such a thing to happen.
Besides, Hilde was kind enough.
In the Greek war.
If a city-state was conquered, it was very likely that the entire city-state would be reduced to slavery.
Gilder at least gave them the chance to become citizens.
So, he took a deep breath and said helplessly: "I understand, just tell me what you want to know, I will tell you everything I know."
"Okay, since you are so cooperative, I will get straight to the point. First question, according to what I know, the Spartans should have sent an oracle to you and participated in the battle, so I want to know what you know about this oracle?"
"...This oracle is called Cleopatra. She is from Sparta. She is the oracle of Hades. She usually wears a hood and a cloak and holds a two-pronged fork in her hand. I also learned this from the general. After she came to Cestus, she took the general's order directly from the general and was responsible for commanding all the troops. Some time ago, Eraeus sent a naval fleet to attack Cestus, but I heard that Cleopatra wiped out the entire navy by herself. Later, we went to look for the ships, but found that they were gone."
"Then you are pretty slow."
Hilde couldn't help but smile and said:
"These ships are now in the port of Byzantium."
"what?"
"You really don't understand... After these ships were discovered by our merchant ships on the road, they were directly towed back, so I knew about this. Well, let's not discuss this issue for now. So this Cleopatra is the oracle of Hades, the god of the underworld. Apart from this, is there anything else worth noting? For example, what abilities does she have, and... what kind of person is this person?"
"I don't know how to tell you this. I know a lot of things from hearsay. Cleopatra is the oracle of Hades, so she is very powerful. It is said that she has the ability to control the dead, but I have never seen it in detail. I learned from the general that Cleopatra will first help us get rid of the navy of Araeus, and then she will join our army to attack Araeus."
I heard the Archon say this.
Hilde also had an idea in his mind.
I'm afraid my previous guess was not wrong.
It turns out that Cleopatra's ability is to control the dead, but what was unexpected was that she was actually the oracle of Hades.
You should know that in ancient Greek mythology, Zeus, Hades and Poseidon are the three most supreme people in the entire Greek mythology. The three are brothers, Hades is the eldest brother, and Zeus is the third brother. After the brothers and sisters defeated the Titans together, they established the Olympus gods together.
Zeus is the king of gods and rules the heavens, Hades is the king of the underworld and rules the afterlife, and Poseidon is the king of the ocean and rules the sea. In ancient Greek mythology, these three areas are very important. Although Zeus's status as a god is higher, Hades and Poseidon's status in Greek mythology cannot be underestimated.
So, for example, Poseidon's Oracle, Rhodes, is actually a very famous name, even bigger than the name of a character like Ares, the God of War. Now, except for Zeus' Oracle, the Oracles of Poseidon and Hades have already appeared in this world, and one helps Athens and the other helps Sparta. What are these two brothers, Poseidon and Hades, planning to do against each other?
"Then, the second question is, did this Cleopatra come here just to help you take down Eraeus and unify the Gallipoli Peninsula?"
"This is the only reason I know. Eraeus is an important food transfer base for Athens. If we can capture Eraeus, it will be very helpful for the next attack on Athens."
"...That is to say, if nothing unexpected happens, the Spartans will attack Athens in the near future?"
"Yes."
If you think in this way, then there is no sense of surprise at all.
The Spartans were preparing to attack Athens later. In that case, it was necessary to cut off Athens' food supply. After all, once the Spartans attacked Athens, the Athenians would not go out of the city to fight directly. Instead, they would hand over Attica, which had a vast land, to the Spartans and lock themselves in the city. At that time, the Athenians' food supply would almost entirely rely on sea transportation.
The Athenians had the most powerful navy in the world, the Spartans, and had no way to deal with it, so the Spartans had no ability to completely blockade Athens from the sea. So they secretly sent an oracle to take down the city-state of Eraeus. The food on the Gallipoli Peninsula and the Athenian merchant ships that had to pass through the Hellespont would not be able to reach Athens smoothly because of the fall of Eraeus.
Conservative estimate.
This would reduce Athens' food supply by about 30%.
Such a value is actually quite fatal.
"Okay, I've understood all this... It seems I need to meet this Cleopatra."
The sixth tune and the seventh section will be another massacre
Hilde was quite interested in Hades' oracle. She even wondered if she should find an opportunity to recruit this oracle to her side. After all, the more oracles there were, the better. Hilde would not be disgusted by them. But after thinking about it carefully, this guy was Hades' oracle, and his ability was also very weird.
If he tried to win her over to join his team, many problems would probably arise. And given the Spartans' stubborn personalities, even if he let her imprison herself and torture her for three to five years, this guy probably wouldn't agree to his request.
So if a conflict does occur.
I'm afraid the Spartans will be one less oracle.
This is good. If the Spartans can lose an oracle, they will not be able to gain an absolute advantage in the subsequent war against Athens. This is what Hilde hopes to see. If the Spartans and Athenians can maintain an equal power and fight for a while, the Byzantine Kingdom will have greater room for profit.
After sorting out the information he had obtained, Hilde came to the king's tent in the city.
At this time, Sophia stood up anxiously.
"Sissi, what's going on?"
"Ah... Actually, it's not much different from what we thought at the beginning. Now we know that the Spartan oracle is named Cleopatra. She is a woman, the oracle of Hades, and her ability is to resurrect the dead. And now she should be helping the Spartan army to attack Araeus, so we have to be mentally prepared. A conflict between us and this guy is probably inevitable."
"Hades..."
Sophia's face changed color.
It seems that the fear of Hades in the hearts of the Greeks is real.
Xerxes, who was sitting on the side, said with disdain, "I thought this woman had some reputation, but it turns out she is just the oracle of Hades, with the ability to resurrect the dead? She is indeed a very suitable oracle for war, but it is unknown whether she can still be majestic when facing us."
Hearing what Xerxes said, Sophia could only smile bitterly. After all, in front of Xerxes, no matter what oracle it was, it would be useless. This was the confidence under absolute power, so it was good that the person with such power stood with her. If he stood against her, that would be the most terrible thing.
"What's next for us?"
"The Spartans are busy fighting Eraeus right now, so they probably won't be back soon. I've asked Amyntas to lead his troops to attack Cardia, and tomorrow we'll lead the rest of the troops toward Eraeus and meet up with Amyntas' troops on the road."
Hilde himself also thought about it carefully.
If Cleopatra's ability is to resurrect the dead.
Then she is roughly equivalent to an army.
Moreover, since the dead can be resurrected, then these dead should not die, because they are dead in the first place. They will definitely be resurrected again and again under the attack, so this is the terrifying thing about these armies, a real undead army.
But this situation is not without solution.
Catch the thief first to catch the king.
If they really encounter an army of undead, they can just turn all their spearheads against Cleopatra. The army will hold on for a while, and then Hilde and Xerxes will join forces to see if they can kill this guy as quickly as possible. Of course, Hilde feels that with his own abilities, plus Xerxes' demigod abilities, it should be no problem to deal with an oracle, especially an oracle with this ability.
So Hilde turned to look at Xerxes:
"You'll come with me then."
"Okay."
Xerxes smiled and said, "However, after this matter is over, should I be rewarded? After all, I am so obedient. If you don't reward me, wouldn't it be a bit too much?"
"……what do you want?"
Hilde sighed helplessly.
Xerxes is really a woman with her head down there.
"After this is over, let's go back and have a threesome?"
“Ah!?” Sophia was stunned for a moment, then her face turned red in an instant, and she began to stutter, “This, this, this, this, this, this, this won’t do! Your Majesty! I, I can’t accept this!!”
"Didn't we agree before?"
"No! Didn't you agree?!"
Hearing Xerxes and Sophia say this.
Hilde shook her head helplessly.
"Okay... that's it."
"Sissi! How could you agree to this?"
"After all, they have helped me so much, it would be a shame to refuse. Besides... I think I told you about this before. You have to try some things before you know them. Don't be so shy. There will be no problem if you try more."
Sophia's face had turned red, but when Hilde said that, she didn't continue to refute. As for Hilde herself, she actually wanted to do this and give it a try. She had said this to Sophia before, and later to Xerxes. Since Xerxes had already taken the initiative to bring it up, Hilde felt that she didn't need to be polite anymore, so...
After these things are over.
Next, let’s have a good fight.
But Hilde thought about it again. Sophia had a horn on her head. It would be bad if Xerxes saw it. After all, Hilde didn't know that Xerxes already knew all the truth. So Hilde frowned slightly and began to think about how to regret what she had just said.
"Are you worried about the fact that Sophia has a pair of horns growing on her head?"
"……How did you know?"
Hilde turned around and looked at Sophia next to her.
No need to think too much, it must have been Sophia who exposed herself.
Sophia was also surprised.
"How did you tell that?!"
"If you don't tell me, our threesome plan will be ruined, right? Otherwise, what's the point of wearing this hood?" Xerxes walked behind Sophia, gently lifted her hood, and then grabbed the pair of dark horns with both hands. "I really want to be pressed against my stomach by this pair of long horns. Just thinking about that feeling is great."
"My horns aren't meant for this kind of thing!"
“So it’s really decoration?”
"No!!!"
Seeing that Sophia was almost powerless in front of Xerxes, Hilde sighed helplessly. If someone teased Sophia, Hilde would definitely explode, but as for Xerxes... Strictly speaking, they were both his wives, so it seemed that he didn't need to care too much about such things. However, since Sophia had already told Xerxes about her horn, this meant that the relationship between the two might be much better than he thought.
"Okay, stop arguing."
Hilde shook her head helplessly.
"It's just a pair of animal horns... You can play with it however you want when the time comes."
“This is not for playing!!!”
Sophia's protests were obviously of no avail.
As for how to use the pair of animal horns and how to maximize their use, that would be something to consider after all these things were over. If we consider it now, it would obviously be something that only a fool would do. Hilde didn't want to waste time on this place when there were so many things that hadn't been completed yet.
So Hilde ordered his troops to move in batches according to the plan. The main force led by Amyntas set out from Cestus and headed for Cardia, which was less than 20 kilometers away. After all, it was only a small city-state with a population of just people. In addition, all the soldiers had been withdrawn, so it was an easy task to capture Cardia.
And Hilde led the Royal Guards.
Depart from Cestus.
Start following the main road to Araeus.
If they were lucky, after Amyntas's troops captured Cardia, they would meet with Hilde's army about 30 kilometers ahead from the direction of Cardia. After the two armies met, they would immediately press towards Eraeus. By that time, neither the oracle named Cleopatra nor the Spartan army would be able to hide.
At this moment, the Spartan army had just finished cleaning up Araeus. The entire Araeus was a living hell, so the soldiers could only transport cartloads of corpses out of the city and dump them outside. For the Spartans here, an Araeus with almost no living people had lost all its function. Relying on the population of Cestus and Cardia, there was no way to support the normal operation of Araeus.
So did almost all Spartan soldiers.
They were all full of resentment towards Cleopatra.
They all felt that Cleopatra had gone too far.
